Memorial  of  the  Convocation  of  the  Colored 
People  in  the  Diocese  of  North  Caro- 
lina Presented  to  the  Diocesan 
Convention  of  1916 


To  the  Rt.  Rev.  Father  in  God,  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  North 

Carolina,  and  Brethren  of  the   Convention  in  the   100th  Annual 

Session. 

Father  and  Brethren  in  Christ: — Your  Colored  brethren  send 
greeting  in  the  Lord. 

The  Convocation  of  the  Colored  People  would  most  respectfully 
invite  the  attention  of  this  Convention  to  a  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject and  action  thereon  again  of  the  "Racial  Episcopate."  The  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  tbe  Church  will  meet,  God  willing,  in  the  city  of 
St.  Louis  next  October.  In  1913,  when  the  Convention  met  in  New 
York  City,  after  a  failure  to  get  concurrent  action  of  the  House  of 
Deputies  in  what  the  House  of  Bishops  decided  by  a  majority  vote 
was  best  for  the  advancement  of  the  work  among  colored  people,  the 
matter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  Joint  Commission  <o  report  at 
the  next  sitting  of  tbe  Convention.  The  Commission  hap.  on  its  board 
men  who  are  both  for  and  against  the  missionary  jurisdiction  plan, 
and  up  to  this  present  time  it  is  not  generally  known  whether  or  no 
they  will  report  favorably  as  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  your 
colored  brethren.  We  desire,  therefore,  to  address  you  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  point  out  to  you  the  real  situation  as  looked  at  from  our 
side,  and  at  the  same  time  give  such  information  as  will  show  to 
you  the  reasonableness  of  our  contention. 

After  a  half  century  of  freedom  the  American  Negro  has  proved 
himself  in  the  land  of  his  adoption  a  necessary  asset  in  almost  every 
walk  of  life.  In  the  wonderful  development  of  the  Southland  during 
the  past  two  or  three  decades,  Negro  labor  has  been  a  necessity.  He 
has  learned  to  work,  and  that  fact  has  aided  much  in  quickening  his 
aspirations,  thereby  causing  him  to  live  alongside  of  his  white 
neighbor,  accumulating  property,  educating  his  children,  assimi- 
lating to  a  large  extent  those  elements  characteristic  of  the  better 
class  of  your  people;  and  at  the  same  time  remaining  just  as  separate 
and  distinct  in  things  purely  social  as  one's  fingers  on  his  hands. 
But,  unhappily  for  the  colored  people,  the  Church's  work  among 
them  has  been  very  meager.  The  little  part,  however  exercised  by 
this  Church  towards  evangelization  of  Afro-Americans  has  meant 
much  in  directing  them  rightly.  There  are  about  10,000,000  of 
colored  people,  and  the  little  efforts  so  far  made  are  not  at  all 
comparable  to  the  opportunities  within  reach  of  this  Church.  Out 
of  this  large  number  of  colored  people  not  more  than  25,000  are 
directly  influenced  by  the  Church's  teaching.  A  little  more  than 
50  per  cent  of  the  entire  Negro  population  are  not  directly  influ- 


enced  by  any  organized  Christian  body.  A  large  majority  of  Clergy 
and  laity  feel  that  the  crying  need  is  a  change  of  our  present  system, 
thereby  giving  us  a  larger  part  and  share  in  the  work  that  means 
for  our  good  and  uplift.  Our  contention  is  not  uncatholic,  as  we 
conceive  the  practice  of  the  Church  in  its  early  days.  To  quote  a 
recent  writer  in  the  Living  Church:  "This  plan  has  been  faulted  as 
being  contrary  to  Catholic  polity,  making  jurisdiction  concurrent 
yet  independent  instead  of  territorial.  Admitting  the  fact  that  in 
the  West  at  any  rate  this  is  an  unusual  thing  and  that  the  ordinary 
normal  method  of  extending  the  Episcopate  is  in  the  diocesan  sys- 
tem, we  must  not  forget  that  other  methods  have  been  used  and  have 
not  been  condemned  by  the  Church  as  uncatholic.  In  this  case  we 
have  a  very  close  analogy  in  the  condition  in  many  places  in  Apos- 
tolic times,  where  large  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christian  populations 
were  living  side  by  side.  In  that  case  there  was  not  even  color  to 
aid  in  distinguishing  one  from  the  other,  but  any  attempt  to  mix  the 
two  led  to  disaster.  There  were  two  races  living  in  the  same  terri- 
tory, largely  speaking  the  same  language,  subject  to  the  same  civil 
authorities,  yet  absolutely  separate  in  social  and  religious  customs. 
The  Apostolic  Church  met  the  issue  by  committing  the  Gospel  of  the 
Circumcision  to  St.  Peter,  and  the  mission  to  the  Gentile  to  St.  Paul. 
There  was  no  worry  over  the  fact  that  they  were  working  in  the 
same  place  at  the  same  time."  But  this  point  needs  no  argument, 
as  it  is  generally  understood  that  the  Church  may  make  such  pro- 
vision as  will  give  to  colored  Churchmen  a  status. 

(a)  It  is  therefore  proposed:  "That  the  House  of  Bishops  may 
establish  Missionary  Districts  upon  racial  lines,  i.  e.,  for  a  specified 
race  or  races,  within  the  bounds  of  Dioceses  and  Missionary  Dis- 
tricts, authorized  in  section  1,  severally  or  in  such  groupings  as  it 
may  determine:  Provided,  that  in  case  of  a  Diocese  such  racial 
jurisdiction  within  the  Diocesan  borders  shall  first  be  ceded  by  the 
Bishop  and  Convention  of  the  Diocese. 

"(b)  In  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  and  Canons,  the 
people  and  churches  of  such  Racial  Missionary  Districts  shall  occupy 
the  same  relation  to  the  General  Convention  and  have  the  same 
rights  of  representation  therein  as  other  Domestic  Missionary 
Districts. 

"(c)  No  such  cession  by  a  Diocese  or  division  of  a  Missionary  Dis- 
trict shall  carry  with  it  the  members  of  the  ceded  race  who  may  be 
or  become  members  of  congregations  not  included  in  such  cession  or 
division. 

"(d)  The  House  of  Bishops  may  from  time  to  time  change,  in- 
crease, or  diminish  the  territory  into  which  such  Racial  Missionary 
District  extends,  in  such  manner  as  may  be  prescribed  by  canon. 

"(e)  Such  racial  jurisdiction  within  the  bounds  of  a  Diocese  may 
be  retroceded  by  the  House  of  Bishops,  if  the  Bishop  and  Conven- 
tion of  such  Diocese  shall  consent  to  receive  it." 

This  plan  gives  to  the  Negroes  the  opportunity  of  true  leadership 
by  the  best  of  their  own  race,  and  at  the  same  time  will  remove  all 
bitterness  and  apparent  social  friction.  The  Church  at  the  same 
time  will  be  making  it  possible  for  a  much  larger  influx  of  the 
colored    people   within    her    fold.     They   remain    away   now    largely 


because  of  the  often  repeated  utterance:  "The  Episcopal  Church  is 
the  white  man's  Church,  and  there  is  no  chance  for  us  ever  reaching 
the  place  of  leadership  among  our  people;  hence,  we  will  remain  for 
the  most  part  in  our  own  churches,  governed  and  directed  by  our 
own  leaders."  But  for  us  who  love  the  Church  and  would  rather  die 
than  leave  the  object  of  our  first  love  and  devotion,  we  pity  our  own 
flesh  and  blood,  and  are  contending  for  their  sake  and  for  the  sake 
of  generations  to  come  that  the  Church  make  it  possible  for  us  to 
reach  more  largely  the  rank  and  file  of  our  people. 

In  our  former  memorial  we  laid  especial  stress  on  comparisons 
between  the  several  departments  proposing  a  Missionary  District 
for  the  Negroes  and  the  relative  numerical  strength  of  these  de- 
partments in  communicants  and  Clergy. 

Since  that  memorial  was  presented  there  has  been  a  readjustment 
of  these  departments  by  the  Church  into  new  divisions  or  provinces. 
The  former  Fourth  Department  is  now  the  Province  of  Sewanee. 
Having  7,160  colored  communicants,  it  lacks  only  293  of  being  equal 
in  membership  with  the  Province  of  Washington,  while  its  115  con- 
gregations surpass  by  45  the  number  of  congregations  in  the  former, 
and  the  number  of  the  Clergy,  66,  more  than  double  the  Clergy,  30,  in 
the  Province  of  Washington. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  greatest  strength  of  the  Church  among 
the  colored  people  lies  within  the  Province  of  Sewanee,  and  the 
greatest  number  of  our  people  live  within  this  area,  thus  making 
it  an  ideal  territory  for  the  establishment  of  a  Missionary  District. 
Now,  the  number  of  colored  communicants  throughout  the  Church 
of  congregations  exclusively  colored  is  reported  as  25,759;  Clergy, 
142.  This  is  6,661  members  more  than  the  last  official  Government 
census  reports,  the  number  therein  given  being  19,098. 

According  to  the  census,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  shows 
an  increase  in  every  way  over  the  last  census.  But  can  we  rest  sat- 
isfied with  such  a  small  membership  as  compared  with  the  denomi- 
nations? And  are  we  not  moved  even  to  greater  depths  of  concern 
when  we  compare  this  small  number  to  the  great  mass  of  Negroes 
who  are  untouched  by  the  Church? 

There  were  3,685,097  Negro  communicants  distributed  throughout 
the  various  denominations.  Note  what  a  small  proportion  this  great 
Church  of  ours  has  gathered  into  its  fold.  The  Presbyterians,  Bap- 
tists, Methodists,  who  have  Negro  organizations  attached,  outnumber 
us  in  their  colored  communicants,  the  Methodists  having  much  the 
largest  number,  308,551,  the  Baptists  32,639,  and  the  Presbyterians 
27,799.  And  what  has  surprised  us  not  a  little,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  been  steadily  though  quietly  gaining  a  foothold  among 
our  people  until  now  they  have  a  membership  of  38,235,  more  than 
double  our  number. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  circumstance  in  the  statistics  of  the 
religious  bodies  among  the  Negroes  is  that  the  greatest  number  of 
communicants  belong  to  those  bodies  which  are  exclusively  Negro, 
the  total  number  of  such  members  being  3,207,307.  More  than 
2,000,000  of  these  are  Baptists;  852,315  of  them  are  Methodists,  the 
A.  M.  E.  Church  having  494,777;  the  A.  M.  E.  Z.  Church  184,542,  and 
the  C.  M.  E.  Church  172,996.     These  bodies,  too,  are  increasing  more 


^ 


rapidly  than  those  that  are  attached  organizations,  holding  85.4  per 
cent  of  the  entire  Negro  organizations,  87  per  cent  of  all  members 
being  enrolled  among  them;  they  have  83.2  per  cent  of  all  the  Sun- 
day School  scholars;  and  hold  67  per  cent  of  all  the  parsonages  and 
78.9  per  cent  of  the  total  value  of  church  property. 

This  excellent  progress  is  due  largely  to  the  opportunities  of 
growth  and  development  in  leadership,  initiative,  and  self-de- 
pendence. 

We  sincerely  believe  that  like  opportunities  opening  to  our  people 
through  the  Missionary  District  plan,  with  a  Bishop  or  with  Bishops 
of  our  own  race,  with  representation  and  voice  in  the  General  Con- 
vention, will  cause  a  healthy  growth  in  membership  such  as  we  have 
not  hitherto  experienced. 

We  would  not  wish  to  lose  contact  entirely  with  the  Christian 
brotherhood  of  the  Church.  Therefore  we  ask  that  this  plan  be 
adopted,  so  that  though  we  may  be  separate  members  we  may  at 
the  same  time  be  inseparable  from  the  main  body;  while  separate 
branches  we  may  all  be  united  in  the  True  Vine. 

(1)  We  most  earnestly  and  respectfully,  then,  desire  that  this 
Convention  reaffirm  its  position  for  Racial  Missionary  Bishops, 
taken  at  the  Convention  of  1913,  and  urge  the  Commission  on  the 
Racial  Episcopate  to  report  their  findings  to  the  General  Convention 
next  October  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  our  proposed  legislation; 

(2)  That  the  following  memorial  and  petition  be  sent  to  the  Com- 
mission on  the  Racial  Episcopate  from  this  Convention,  to  wit:  That 
it  may  please  the  Commission  to  recommend  and  urge  upon  the  Gen- 
eral Convention,  to  assemble  in  St.  Louis  in  October  of  this  present 
year,  that  legislation  be  enacted  (as  already  proposed)  by  that  body 
to  provide  that  the  Negroes  resident  within  the  area  of  the  Province 
of  Sewanee,  or  part  thereof,  with  their  lands  and  properties,  may  be 
constituted  in  a  Missionary  District  of  this  Church,  and  a  Missionary 
Bishop  of  the  Negro  race  may  be  elected  to  be  the  Missionary  Bishop 
thereof; 

(3)  And  in  particular  do  we  request  that  this  Convention  will 
pursue  the  same  course  through  its  Secretary  as  was  done  with  such 
telling  effect  in  1913,  viz.,  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Diocese  be  in- 
structed to  forward  copies  of  the  memorial  to  each  of  the  deputies 
to  the  next  General  Convention  from  the  various  Dioceses  and  Mis- 
sionary Districts  composing  the  Province  of  Sewanee,  with  the  re- 
quest that  they  join  us  in  the  objects  of  the  memorial. 

Finally,  your  colored  brethren  will  continue  faithful  in  the  future 
to  the  trust  committed  to  their  keeping,  as  they  have  endeavored  to 
do  in  the  past;  ever  confident  that  He  who  has  begun  a  good  work 
in  us  "will  perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Henry  B.  Delany, 
Jas.  King  Satterwhite, 
Robert  N.  Perry, 
Chas.  H.  Boyer, 
Geo.  C.  Pollard, 
J.  O.  Pltjmmer,  M.D., 

Committee. 


